In-flight emergencies that result in off-airport landings can result in the loss of life and property. The problem of selecting a suitable emergency landing site (“safe landing area”) has been around since the beginning of aviation. During in-flight emergencies, pilots have been limited to using their planning, experience, vision and familiarity with a given area to select a suitable, safe landing area.
During a forced landing, the time that a pilot has to react can be very short and compounded by the workload of finding a suitable landing site, executing emergency procedures, preparing the passengers, and flying the aircraft. In any in-flight emergency that requires an off-airport landing, time management and an informed decision making process is critical. This problem is compounded by single pilot operations, Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) conditions, and undetected hazards and obstacles at the landing site.
Aircraft energy management is another pilot dilemma. The information presented to pilots during training is generally conservative and/or worst case conditions. Consequently, pilots currently rely on their training and experience to make emergency landing decisions.
With the advent of global positioning system (GPS) navigation, manufactures have added a “nearest airport” feature to GPS receivers. This feature allows the pilot to display the navigation information to the nearest airport. However, this solution is effective only if the plane can actually make it to the airport.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved method and system for facilitating emergency situations.